Creaking, Crackleing.. and what not.

I jsut got my bike maby 6-8 weeks ago brand new, its a 04 Giant Boulder SE. My bike has a problem with creaking and crackeling comeing from the front crank area. I brought it back and they tightened up the bottom bracket. I got it back and started rideing. It came back. So I tightened up the crank arms and the sound went away for the most part for a few days. Its back and not nearly as bad as it was before. It creaks a little bit with every hard pedaling action. Is this normal? What should I do. I brought it back twice and eveytime it 'apears' to be fixed till i ride it for a day or two.

I jsut got my bike maby 6-8 weeks ago brand new, its a 04 Giant Boulder SE. My bike has a problem with creaking and crackeling comeing from the front crank area. I brought it back and they tightened up the bottom bracket. I got it back and started rideing. It came back. So I tightened up the crank arms and the sound went away for the most part for a few days. Its back and not nearly as bad as it was before. It creaks a little bit with every hard pedaling action. Is this normal? What should I do. I brought it back twice and eveytime it 'apears' to be fixed till i ride it for a day or two.

Thanks
Josh

It's not normal, but not unusual to have squeaks from the crank/bb or bb/frame interface. There's a number of approaches you can try:

-Apply grease to the bb and lockring(s) then torque to spec, grease on the spindle/crank interface again torque to spec

-Apply loctite to bb and lockring threads torque to spec, apply loctite to crank bolt threads and torque to spec

Different mfgs have different recommended approaches to tightening cranks and BB's. Race Face recommends using grease on the spindle of their sq taper cranks for deeper seating to BB spindle, other mfgs advise against this. Phil Wood supplies thread locker for installing lockrings on their adjustable chainline BB's, others dont recommend this. The use of white Teflon pipe tape as a sound deadner/thread lubricant is a popular do it yourself cure.

After trial and error, I go straight for the loctite. For sq taper crank bolts I torqe and ride, then remove bolts apply loctite and torque again after everything is seated. For splined cranks grease splined interface, then clean bolt thread hole with solvent & Q-tip, apply loctite to bolts and torque. A torque wrench is a must, hex key arms are too short and you usually don't generate enough torque to get spec'd tightness.